The Interior Department announced yesterday that it is taking immediate steps to strengthen oversight of state-approved surface coal mining operations -- including mountaintop removal -- and to impose tighter restrictions on the dumping of mining waste in steams.

In a statement issued by the agency,...

Nashville is "Music City", the home of country music -- but the heart and soul of this celebrated American musical genre lies a few hundred miles east in the Appalachian Mountains.  Yes indeed, Appalachia is where country music was born.  And...

Another Veterans' Day is upon us, a time to reflect on our armed servicemen and women who are stationed around the world to protect us.  Many of these brave soldiers, sailors and marines have spent years serving in Afghanistan,...

Rising above a picturesque valley in southern West Virginia, like an oasis in the midst of coal country, Coal River Mountain represents the last, best hope for a community resisting the legacy of dirty energy in this part of...

What is up with the U.S. Department of Interior these days?  Unlike the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which appears to be walking the walk on mountaintop removal coal mining thanks to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's leadership, it's...

So, we know the 'hidden costs' of dirty energy top $120 billion a year for Americans.  But what about the benefits of clean energy?

Try this on for size: new analysis shows that adopting comprehensive clean energy and climate...

Since many of our elected leaders seem to be worried about costs, they should consider this: fossil fuels cost the United States about $120 billion a year, according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences.  This cost is measured primarily...

Kudos to Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) for bird-dogging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the need to regulate pollution from coal-fired power plants.  Yesterday, Rep. Markey sent a letter to EPA requesting information on the agency's findings related...

Go tell it on the mountain!

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking unprecedented action to bring to an end the saga of the infamous Spruce Mine, jamming a stake in the heart of what would have been the largest mountaintop removal project in the...

Congress is currently debating legislation that would finally begin to address climate change and spark a paradigm shift toward clean energy for our nation.  There are lots of good reasons to pass this bill: reducing global warming pollution, exerting...

"Turn on more lights, burn more coal."      -- Don Blankenship

Don Blankenship is the CEO of Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Appalachia and the most notorious perpetrator of mountaintop removal mining.  Mr. Blankenship, known as "the scariest polluter in America," makes...

Everyone knows that Dolly Parton is still working 9-to-5, just to try to make a living.  But some Big Coal bad-guys, out to make a political statement, are aiming their fire at the reigning queen of country music. 

A few weeks ago, a handful...

I own a pick-up truck that my neighbors sometimes borrow.  One neighbor, who usually uses the truck to haul away lawn debris, always returns the truck in meticulous condition.  No matter how often I tell him not to bother, he...

The clean energy economy is upon us -- but will the U.S. heed the call?

That's the gist of today's Washington Post story with this stark headline: Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing...

Today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in compliance with new Obama administration policy on mountaintop removal coal mining, has proposed eliminating the use of its streamlined permit process for the approval of surface coal mining in Appalachia.  For far too...

Pollution and poverty caused by the development of oil reserves have deprived tens of million of Nigerians their basic human rights, according to Amnesty International, which calls oil a "resource curse" for the region.

"People living in the Niger Delta have to drink,...

It does not bode well that the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 6-3 in favor of treating America's waterways like dumps.  Specifically, the Court decided that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can legally permit the disposal of polluted wastewater...

With the Senate voting today to move along energy legislation, we're seeing a strong push to dirty up the bill in ways that benefit the fossil fools crowd.  Those who support this carbon-heavy, polluter-friendly path like to highlight the need for a so-called all...